Programming for Social Development for Children with ASD or Intellectual Disability

March 8 @ 9:00 am - 3:30 pm

Three Day Series: Programming for Social Development for Children with ASD or Intellectual Disability

Social skills are one of the most commonly identified deficits in individuals with ASD, yet remain one of the hardest sets of skills to figure out how to teach. Many intervention approaches focus on imitation, modeling and reinforcement of discrete social skills however research indicates only marginal impact. With so many professionals studying social skills, why are we still getting it wrong? The first common mistake is looking at social skills as a rote list of skills to be taught. To be socially successful, one needs to know how to access and apply their social knowledge in constantly changing situations. To date the Relate Program has taught over 300 Manitoban Families some of these very same teaching techniques and ideas. We are now making this available to professionals.

This professional workshop series is presented by the Relate Program of the Rehabilitation Centre for Children, and is based on Relationship Development Intervention™. The focus is on helping professionals identify and support meaningful and practical social thinking targets, implement strategies within authentic activities for children with ASD and or Global Developmental Delay and other related disorders. Participants will discover that unlocking social thinking will also enhance language development and general learning. Participants will learn how concepts and strategies from attachment theory and working with children with trauma can be applied to help severely delayed children overcome their obstacles and engage with learning. Participants will learn how to balance accommodations with remediation. Each presentation builds upon the ideas and information from the previous session so please be prepared to attend all three sessions. Full day presentations will be held on the First Friday March, April and May, 2019.

Day 1: “Together is Better” – Friday March 8, 2019 9:00 – 3:30pm

Day one covers strategies and activities that plant the seeds of relationship in students who struggle to engage with others. Participants will learn the importance of improving the student’s attention and curiosity towards their primary attachment in the home or learning setting. Clinicians and educators will learn the origins of some of the difficult behaviors they see and they will learn how to accommodate for them. Participants will be given time to practice interaction techniques aimed at nudging their student into the learning zone while accommodating their student’s current socio-cognitive & emotional performance. The emphasis will be on guiding techniques rather than physical or material supports – because its’ people that help people.

Day 2: “Behaving” – Friday April 5th 2019, 9:00 to 3:30pm

Day two continues with a focus on guiding strategies – but this time towards helping a child learn how to think about and regulate their actions and experiences. Professionals will learn how to use and adapt early childhood games towards the development of early basic concepts and self regulation. Professionals will be encouraged to put processing goals, objectives & teaching strategies in place for their pre academic and behaviorally challenged students. Dynamic assessment methods will be shared. The presenter’s clinical experience with strategies and techniques will also be shared and learning will be enhanced through video. Let’s do better than accommodate – let’s remediate. “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime”.

Day 3: “Thinking” – Friday May 3rd, 2019 9:00 to 3:30pm

Day Three will focus on how we can help students develop motivation, memory and emotional awareness. Professionals will come to appreciate how these three thinking strategies form the root of empathy towards others, language comprehension, expression and conversational skills, as well as theory of mind and executive functioning. Professionals will come to see that with only slight alterations, many traditional classroom lessons and early childhood games can be a part of helping students develop these critical thinking skills. Professionals will also explore how to use picture based materials and technology to enhance the student’s learning.

Participants: This workshop is intended for educators, school teams and pediatric OT/PT/SLP & music therapists

Details

Venue

Specialized Services for Children and Youth (SSCY) is an initiative focused on the integration and, where possible, co-location, of services for Manitoba children and youth with disabilities and special needs.